USA > West Virginia > Pendleton County > A history of Pendleton County, West Virginia > Part 33
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Passing northward down the back street, the first building was the union church in the open lot between the McClure and Calhoun residences and standing well back from the road. Next and on the same side, were the house and shop of James Skidmore, a saddler, and the house of William J. Blizzard. On the right, opposite these houses were two small dwellings, one of them built out of the old log school- house. The remaining houses were also on the right. These were the tailor shop of Samuel Blewitt, the brick tannery and the house of John McClure, and finally, on the corner behind the Greiner house was the Cobb house used as negro quar- ters. Up the hillside from McClure's was the schoolhouse, and in the hollow beyond was the home of Gen. Boggs.
Several of the structures of that day still remain, but more
347
have been removed. The log house was still prevalent, and its type is still to be seen in the two log houses yet standing on the back street.
At this time Franklin as a designated town was just fifty years old. It had been laid out fifty-six years before, and the first home of Francis Evick, Sr., if then standing, pos- sessed an age of just about seventy-five years.
County Buildings
In creating a new county the old Virgina practice was to require the first county court to secure at the earliest practi- cable moment two acres of ground and erect thereon a court- house, a jail, and such other adjuncts as were deemed neces- sary. In conformity thereto, the court sitting at Seraiah Stratton's in June, 1788, appointed John Skidmore, William Patton, and James Cunningham to supervise the speedy erec- tion of county buildings at "Frankford."
The courthouse was to be 22 by 23 feet in the clear, and constructed of good hewn logs, the chinks between the logs being filled with stone and pointed with lime. Under the sills was to be a stone wall a foot high. The two floors were to be 10 feet apart, and there was to be a half-story of 5 feet above the joists. The shingles were to be two feet and nine inches long, lapped, and laid fourteen inches to the weather. Of the three windows in the lower story, each was to have twelve lights of eight by ten inch glass, and to be provided with shutters. The upper story was to have on each side two windows of the same dimensions. The stone chimney was to contain a fireplace six feet broad. The platform for the jus- tices was to be two feet eight inches high, with stairs up each side and a good rail and bannisters in front. The wall in the rear of the platform was to be lined with plank. The two doors were to be six feet six inches high and three feet three inches broad. A box was to be provided for the sheriff. There was to be a stairway to the upper floor which was ap- parently intended as a jury room.
The "goal" was to be twelve by sixteen feet, one storied, and divided into two rooms of equal size. The logs for the wall were to be ten inches square with dovetailed ends and the crevices pointed with lime and sand. The lower floor was to consist of round split logs resting on sills. An upper floor, or rather ceiling, was to consist of split logs set face downward and their ends let into the wall. Two round logs were to be placed above. The roof was to be lap-shingled like that of the courthouse. In the debtor's room was to be a large grated window, and grates were also to be set in the
348
middle of the small stone chimney. In connection with the jail, pillory and stocks were to be provided.
It is very evident that the designers of the massive little building intended to encourage the persons placed in it to re- main there. But in May, 1796, a new jail was ordered. This was to be sixteen by twenty feet. The stone wall, two feet thick, was to go eighteen inches below the ground and to rise thirteen feet above. The two lower rooms of equal size were to be separated by a stone wall fifteen inches thick. The first story was to be seven and a half feet high. There were to be nine sleepers covered with an equal number of planks three inches thick. The nine "joice" above were to be three by nine inches, and were likewise to be covered with three inch plank. The three doors were to be of two inch plank. Each of the four windows was to contain six lights of eight by ten inch glass. The stairway was to be on the outside. The walls were to be lined with plank going two inches below the lower floor.
Some of the squared logs of the original county buildings are said to be still in existence, having been built into the wall of a stable.
In May, 1801, a clerk's office was authorized. This was to be fourteen by eighteen feet on the ground and nine feet high, the walls being of brick resting on a stone foundation coming two feet above the ground. Underneath the brick floor was to be a bed of clay or sand brought up level with the top of the stone work. There was to be a joint-shingled roof, a fireplace four feet broad, a paneled door, and three twelve-light windows. But on further consideration, the court decided on a floor of joist and plank. The wall was to be plastered below and the upper floor overlaid with brick. Oliver McCoy and Peter Johnson were to let out the contract, and the building was to be completed by December of the same year.
In 1815 there was an appropriation of $30 for a Franklin stove for the clerk's office.
In 1810 a new and stronger jail was ordered. The stone wall was to go three feet below the surface and rise five feet above, and in front was to be twenty-seven inches thick. The story was to be of ten feet, with a partition wall nine inches thick. The sleepers were to be nine inches square and set close together. The stairway was to be inside. The following year the jail was reordered, and the county levy in- creased by $918.33 to complete the building. In 1820 there was an appropriation of $100 to repair the jail and to erect pillory, stocks, and whipping post. In 1838 an addition to the jail was ordered. The new part was to be of brick, twenty-
349
four by twenty-eight feet on the ground, and with walls thirteen inches thick.
This jail was burned by the Home Guards in 1864 and a new brick building was put up after the close of the war. This in turn was destroyed by fire-in 1905-and the present modern building erected.
In 1816 a courthouse of brick was ordered and appears to have been completed the following year at an expense of $3250. In 1840 a bell for this building was authorized. In 1824 the public square had been ordered inclosed, and again it was decreed that stocks and whipping post should be set up. The next year it was ordered that no liquor should be brought into the courthouse on election days, damage having been done.
Prior to 1865 it was the practice to increase the poll tax to a degree sufficient to provide the necessary funds for putting up a public building. If the burden was large it was dis- tributed over two or more years. A similar method was re- sorted to in 1882, when a county levy of $1000 a year for six years was decided upon for the building of the present court- house. The contract was let in 1889 to John A. Crigler for $7900.
A School of 1830.
The venerable John B. Blizzard-born in 1821-tells of an old field school in Sweedland valley, three miles from Fort Seybert.
The interior of the small, rude log building was more sug- gestive of a stable than a house, the floor being not of puncheons but of the bare earth itself. There was an hour of noon intermission, but no other recesses. The books used were the English Reader, the Dilworth and the "blueback" (Webster) spellers, and Pike's Arithmetic. The speller was used also as a reader. The Testament was not much em- ployed. Pike's Arithmetic taught the colonial system of cur- rency. Later an arithmetic was introduced which used the Federal system of dollars and cents. There were few slates and no blackboard. A prominent feature in the routine of every day consisted in "licking the kids." For this purpose a stock of hickory gads was kept continually on hand. Locking out the teacher to compel a treat was sometimes tried, but not always successfully, so far as the sort of treat desired was concerned. There was always a treat, and it was often of hickory; not of nuts, but a warming and invigorating ap- plication of a limber sprout.
350
The Bennetts of Other West Virginia Counties
Judge William George Bennett of Weston supplies an ac- count of the Bennetts of Braxton, Gilmer, Greenbrier, Lewis, Nicholas, Preston, and Randolph counties; all appearing to be posterity of the Joseph, Sr., who settled on the North Fork in 1767. The account is of peculiar interest as present- ing a connected statement of an emigrated branch of the Pendleton pioneers, and exhibiting the prominence to which individuals thereof have risen under the favoring influence of broader opportunity.
William Bennett left Pendleton in 1797 and bought of Colo- nel George Jackson, a farm at Walkersville on the West Fork of the Monongahela. He did not himself aspire to any office, but seems to have been a man of superior quality. He reared a family of five sons and seven daughters, and reared them well. All the twelve were well educated, and in part this result is doubtless attributable to James McCauley, his wife's father, who lived with him in Lewis. McCauley had been a captain in the British navy and spoke seven languages fluently. The daughters married into the Spriggs, Alkire, McCray, Keith, Anderson, and Holt families. Two of them married brothers of the name of Holt. These were brothers to the father of Supreme Judge Homer Holt and grand- father of John H. Holt, recently Democratic nominee for governor of this state. Jonathan M., James, David, Joseph and William, Jr., the five sons of William Bennett were prominent citizens of Lewis and three served in the Legisla- ture. The youngest child of Jonathan M. was the first prosecuting attorney of Gilmer, a member of The Virginia Legislature from Lewis, member of the Senate of West Vir- ginia, Auditor of Virginia, and one of the Commissioners ap- pointed by this state to settle the debt question with Virginia. He married a daughter of Captain George W. Jackson, a rela- tive of Stonewall Jackson. William G., the oldest of the two sons and two daughters, has twice been elected Judge of the Eleventh Circuit, serving as a Democrat in a Republi- can circuit. He was Circuit Judge 16 years and was Demo- cratic nominee for the Supreme Bench. Louis, his brother has been principal of the Glenville Normal School, mem- ber of the Legislature, Speaker of the House, and Demo- cratic nominee for Governor in 1908. One sister married Dr. Fleming Howell, of Clarksburg, and the other married a son of ex-Governor Bowie of Maryland.
James married a Miss Clark, a descendant of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. One of his sons
351
was a cadet of West Point. The other was elected county clerk of Lewis for three successive terms.
The eldest sons of David went to Missouri, where their children are prominent as educators, physicians, and wealthy farmers. The sons of William and Joseph have also been successful. It is said of William that at the age of 82 he could jump off his feet and crack his heels together three times before he came back to the floor. He left 245 living descendants. His sons and daughters wrote a beautiful hand and were excellent spellers and grammarians. Letters written by them nearly a century ago are couched in excel- lent language and display an unusual stock of general in- formation.
In Lewis are also descendants of John a brother to William, Sr., and in both Upshur and Lewis are other Bennetts who claim relationship and who are superior citizens. One of the Upshur Bennetts, a well-to-do-man, was recorder of that county shortly after the war. His son, principal of the State Normal School at Fairmont, is a prominent educator. Many of the other Bennetts of the same county took to preaching and served worthily in their respective churches.
The Pendleton branch settling in Preston produced E. A. Bennett, at one time Auditor of this state. From the Ben- netts settling in Nicholas came the present judge of the Fayette-Greenbrier circuit. Of the branch settling in Gilmer, N -- M. was a prominent lawyer and in his day a rich man. M. G. Bennett went to the Legislature from Gilmer and Cal- houn. The present prosecuting attorney of Gilmer is C. M. Bennett. Several preachers have sprung from the Gilmer Bennetts and several very successful physicians from the Nicholas branch.
SECTION 2
- -
STATISTICAL
Population of Pendleton in Fach Census Year
1790
.2,452
1860
6,164
1800
.3,962
1870 6,455
1810 4,238
1880 8,022
1820 . 4,846
1890 8,711
1830 6,271
1840
.6,940
1900 9,167
1850 . 5,795
1910-about 9,400
Population of Franklin, 1900 205.
The rapid increase from 1790 to 1800 is partly due to the enlargement of the county in 1796. The seeming decrease between 1840 and 1850 is due to the portion taken off to help form the county of Highland.
Postoffices
(Offices having a daily mail are marked with a (*). Money order offices are in black-faced type).
Box, Union District.
Branch, Mill Run District.
Brandywine*, Bethel District. Mullenax, Circleville District.
Brushy Run*, Mill Run Dis- trict.
Cave, Franklin District.
Circleville*, Circleville Dis- trict.
Creek, Mill Run District.
Dahmer, Franklin District.
Deer Run, Mill Run District. Dry Run, Circleville District. Fort Seybert, Bethel District. Franklin*, Franklin District. Ketterman, Mill Run District. Key*, Union District.
Kline, Mill Run District.
Mouth of Seneca*, Union Dis- trict.
Nome, Circleville District. Oak Flat*, Bethel District.
Onego*, Union District. Rexroad, Franklin District.
Riverton*, Union District. Ruddle*, Franklin District.
Simoda, Union District.
South Mill Creek, Mill Run District.
Sugar Grove*, Sugar Grove District.
Teterton, Union District.
Thorn, Sugar Grove District.
THE OLD SCHOOLHOUSE AT FRANKLIN .- Phot'd by T. J. Bowman, In the now vacant house a large num- ber of the older people of the county received their education.
353
Macksville*, Union District. Miles, Bethel District.
Mitchell, Sugar Grove Dis- trict.
Tressel, Sugar Grove District. Upper Tract*, Mill Run Dis- trict. Ziegler, Franklin District.
Slaveholders in 1860
Owners. No. of Slaves.
Owners. No. of Slaves.
Anderson, David C.
3 Kile, Mary
9
Anderson, William (estate)
7
Kile, Susannah 8
Boggs, Aaron
5 Mauzy, James L.
1
Boggs, James
17
McClung, David G.
2
Coatney, Edward J.
1 McCoy, William Sr.
9
Cunningham, Jane A.
7
McCoy, William Jr.
5
Davis, John
3
Moyers, Lewis
1
Dice, Reuben B.
5
Phares, Robert
1
Dice, George W.
1 Priest, James H.
2
Dyer, Andrew W.
19
Rexroad, Jacob
1
Dyer, Jane
1 Ruddle, James D.
1
Dyer, Margaret
6
Ruleman, Christian
1
Dyer, Roger
4
Ruleman, Jacob
2
Dyer, William F.
1
Samuels, Larkin
7
Harden, Comfort
14
Simmons, Edward T.
3
Harold, John T.
1
Simmons, Henry
1
Harper, Leonard
2
Simmons, Michael
1
Harper, George
7
Smedley, Peter
1
Hedrick, Cynthia
10
3 Smith, Henry
3
Hinkle, Michael
7 Stone, Jacob
5
Johnson, Jacob F.
2 Stone, David C.
1
Johnson, Samuel
5 Trumbo, Jacob
1
Kile, George
7 Wanstaff, Peter
2
Prices for Entertainment at Ordinaries
Until near the middle of the last century the prices charged by ordinaries, as houses of public entertainment were then usually called, were fixed by the county court. It was a breach of the law to charge more than the authorized price.
1746
Feather bed and clean
Hot diet $.12}
Cold diet
.08
Corn or oats per gal. 6.00
Bed with clean sheets
.04
Stablage and hay per
Stabling and fodder
.08
night 8.00
Rum per gallon
1.50
Pasturage per night 5.00
PCH 23
1 Siple, George
6
Hedrick, Adam (estate)
Hiner, Benjamin
4 Smith, Jacob
1
Hopkins, Cyrus
sheets 6.00
354
Whiskey per gallon 1763
Hot diet
.12}
.10₺
In this year mention is made as to whether boiled or unboiled cider shall be served at meals.
1773
Common hot diet
.21
Common hot diet with- out beer
.17
Lodging with clean
sheet and feather bed
.08
Stabling for 24 hours with good hay
,17
1782
Stabling for 12 hours
Hot breakfast .17
with good hay
.10
Cold breakfast .11
Corn or oats per gallon
.08 Bed with clean sheets .12%
Liquors are graded in 21 prices
Stabling and hay per night
.14
1781
Corn, per gallon
.123
Hot dinner
$ 12.00 Oats per gallon .08
Cold dinner
10.00 Pasturage per night
.12₺
1785.
Hot dinner with usual "bear or cyder,"
.25
Cold dinner with usual "bear or cyder," .17
Hot breakfast with usual "bear or cyder," .21
Cold breakfast with usual "bear or cyder,"
.17
1790.
1796. 1797. 1813.
1824.
Breakfast or supper,
.17
.21
.22
.12
.25
Dinner,
.22
.25
.33
.27₺
.37층
Cold supper,
.12}
.17
Corn or oats per gallon,
.11
.12}
Lodging per night,
.08
.123
Pasturage per night,
.08
Stablage and hay per night,
.17
.12 .25
Liquor per gallon,
.83-$2.33
Liquor per half pint,
.12} .12} -. 25
Cider, per quart,
.17
.08
5.00 160.00 80.00
The above startling prices were due to the worthlessness of the Continental paper mon- ey. Later in the same year the following prices were charged : Hot dinner 30.00
Strong beer or cider, per quart 12.00
Pasturage per night 12.00
Rye whiskey per gal. 199.00
1.00
Cider per quart Wine per gallon Rye whiskey per gal.
Servant's hot diet
355
Levies, Taxes, Salaries, and Fines (Levies under Augusta and Rockingham).
Year.
Tithes.
Amt. Levied.
1757,
$ .80,
$ 1,498.40
1758,
.93,
1,293.60
1768,
.13,
468.60
1774, .40,
1,138.00
1778,
2.50,
3,550.00
1779,
6.00,
8,220.00
1780,
40.00,
57,833.33
1781, .50,
725.00
The levies for 1778-1780 were in depreciated paper money.
Levies Since Organization of Pendleton
The amount of levy is not obtainable in every instance from the county records as preserved, but the figures given below are with little doubt a close approximation, -with re- spect to the averages.
For the period, 1788-1803, the average levy was $330.09, the rate per capita varying from 37 cents to $1.33. The lowest levy was $141 and the highest was $572.
For the period, 1804-1818, the average levy was $932.12, the rate per capita varying from 50 cents to $2.50. The lowest levy was $352.25 and the highest was $3,147.07. The last named amount assessed in 1817, was in part for the building of a new courthouse.
For the period, 1819-1833, the average levy was $574.66, the rate per capita varying from 33 cents to 70 cents. The lowest levy was $417.21 and the highest was $706.17.
For the period, 1834-1845, the average levy was $609.45, the rate per capita varying from 21 cents to 55 cents. The lowest levy was $439.41 and the highest was $927.79.
For the period, 1846-1864, the average levy was $784.88, the rate per capita varying from 45 cents to 80 cents. The lowest levy (1852) was $498.72 and highest, excepting that of 1864, was $1,045.71 (in 1855). The levy for 1864 was $5,203.50.
Salaries
In 1790 the Commissioner of the Revenue estimated 233 days as the necessary time for performing his duties. He was paid one dollar a day. In 1802 the estimate was for 41 days time, and in 1805, 50 days. In 1812 there were two commis- sioners and they were paid $75 each. In 1818 they were paid $150 each.
In 1807 and thereabout, the Clerk of the Court and the
356
Prosecuting Attorney were paid $60 each. In 1841 the allow- ance to the jailor was $40. In 1873 the salary of the County Clerk was $200 and that of the Circuit Clerk was $135. The Prosecuting Attorney was paid $240, the sheriff, $175, and the Jailor, $40. In 1883 the combined clerkship salary was $350. The Prosecuting Attorney was paid $230, and the Sheriff, $200. In 1900 the salary of the Prosecuting Attorney was raised to $250, the other salaries remaining unchanged. The assessors were paid each $200.
Fees
(The following fees were allowed to the Sheriff in 1819).
Hanging,
$5.25
Arrest,
.63
Putting a person in the pillory, .52
Putting a person in the stocks,
.21
Putting a person in the jail,
.42
Whipping a free man, .42
Whipping a slave over 21 (paid by the master and made good by the servant,
.42
Selling a servant, .42
Allowance per day for keeping a debtor in jail .21
A Constable was allowed 4 cents a mile for taking out of the county a non-resident likely to become a public charge.
Fines
In 1790 a certain resident was fined $133.50 for assault and battery. In the same year the greatest and least fines for libel were $120 and $6.68.
(The following fines were in force in 1801).
Killing a deer between Jan. 1, and Aug. 1, $ 5
Seining fish between May 15, and Aug. 15, 10
Firing woods, 30
A sheep-killing dog was cured of his bad habit by treating him the same as he did the sheep.
Taxes
1793.
1800.
Land per $100
$.25
$ .14₺
Slave above the age of 12 and not exempted,
.27
.44
Horses, including studs,
.06
.12
Ordinary license,
6.67
12.00
357
Stage wagons and phætons,
per wheel,
.84
Other wagons, per wheel,
1.25
Two-wheeled carts,
.43
Lot and house in town, per $100 rental value, 1.33
1.56
License to retail
15.00
Peddler's license (general),
20.00
Peddler's license (in county),
.25
The amount of land tax in Pendleton in 1790 was $244.56. In 1834 the tax on land, slaves, horses, carriages, and licenses was $1,090.98.
Witness Fees
A witness fee in 1799 was 53 cents and the mileage al- lowance was 3 cents.
Bounties on Predatory Animals.
By Act of Assembly 1769, "each person required to give in the tithe of his or her family shall yearly before returning such list produce per tithe the heads of five squirrels or Crows." In making the county levy the county was given credit for each scalp in the sum of one pound of tobacco (3 1-3 cents). This act applied to Augusta county. It was in force three years and was reenacted another three years.
By Act of Assembly, 1796, applying to Pendleton and sev- enteen other counties, "Every free male tithable shall pro- duce to a justice of the peace on or before Dec. 1, (of 1797 and 1798) six scalps of squirrels or crows for every tithe listed or given in by such free male person in each of the said years; failing, he shall pay three cents for each scalp he shall fail to produce, to be levied in the county levy and paid to those persons who shall produce a greater number, in pro- portion to the excess."
Whether or not the above laws were effective in this county is not clearly apparent, but the very first county court offered a bounty of one pound ($3.33) on every grown wolf. In 1796 the bounty was $4 for a wolf over six months in age and $2 for a younger one. In 1802 the bounty was raised to $8, and by 1819 it had been lowered to $6. In 1874 $10 was paid for a half-grown wolf and $2 and $1 for cubs. Soon after- ward the bounty on the grown animal was $35. At this rate A. W. Roby was paid for killing two wolves in 1889 and Thomas A. Payne for killing a single one in 1892. The last record of the payment of wolf bounties was to S. P. Dolly and
358
Jacob Arbogast in 1896 for the killing of two wolves. The animal is now thought to be extinct in Pendleton.
In 1834 the bounty on a fox was $1.50 for a grown an- imal, and half that sum for a small one. By 1874 the bounty on a young fox had been reduced to 50 cents, and a few years later the respective bounties had been reduced to 75 and 40 aents. In 1874 the bounty for a grown wildcat was a dollar, cnd for a young animal 50 cents. More than 20 years ago a bounty of one dollar was offered on eagles, and in 1906 a bounty of 25 cents was put into effect against all hawks ex- cept bird-hawks.
In 1850 there was paid out of the county treasury $129 for 2 wolves, 59 wildcats, and 17 gray foxes. In 1859 the num- bers of wildcats and foxes were respectively 70 and 30; in 1877, 83, and 74; in 1881, 48 and 54; in 1899, 39 and 39; and in 1903, 49 and 37. In 1894 bounties were paid on 6 eagles.
Items from Day-Book of a Merchant of Franklin in 1820
Flannel, per yard $ .37% Beeswax per lb. $ .01
Cotton per yard .073
Paper per quire .50
Figured Muslin per yd 1.25
Slate Pencil .02
Irish Linen per yd
.50 German Hymn Book
1.25
Calico per yd
.09} Butt Hinges per pr.
.373
Ribbon per yd
.10
.163
Domestic Muslin per yd
.25
Pocket Knife
.37}
Cotton Yarn No. 6 per lb
.14} Pocket Book
.33
Spun Cotton per lb.,
.163
Ornamented Comb
.373
Silk per skein
.02
Iron per lb.
.08
Wool Stockings per pr.
.83 Gun Lock
1.12}
Gunflints per doz.
.50
Buttons per doz
.25
Handsaw
2.00
Buttons (shirt) per doz
.75
Lead per lb.
.04
Common Shoes per pr
1.50
Butter Plate
.04
Small Shoes per pr
.56
Comb
.123
Pumps per pr
1.75
Tin pan
.37₺
Large Shoes per pr
1.50
Razor Strop
.58
Suspenders per pr
.37} Looking Glass
.25
Thread Socks per pr
.75 Half-Pint Tumbler
.123
Pins per paper
.25 Snuffers
.37%
Cravat Handkerchiefs
.87} Pint "Jugg"
.10
Gloves per pr
.12} Milk Crocks
.163
Worsted Stockings, pr,
1.25 Dutch Oven 2.25
Vest Pattern
1.00 Knitting Pins, per set .75
Screws per doz. Latches per doz.
.25
Window Glass, pane
.143
Cotton Stockings per pair
.75 Andirons per pr.
3.00
359
Wool "Hatt"
1.00
Needles per doz.
.02
Shawl
2.00
Tobacco per lb.
.13
Black Silk Hdkf
.87₴ Gunpowder per lb . 62}
Small Silk Hdkf
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